'Yankee Spirit' — New BYU exhibit features paintings from many of America's most celebrated artists
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PROVO, UTAH
The list of artists featured in a new exhibit at Brigham Young University's Museum of Art reads like a dream team of American painters: Moran, Bierstadt, Homer, O'Keeffe, Rockwell and Whistler.
So it's little surprise that curators of the "The Yankee Spirit" exhibit are excited about the rare chance that visitors to the Church-owned campus will have to view the works of such paintbrush heavyweights gathered together in one show.
"This exhibition provides an unparalleled opportunity for Utah Valley residents and the broader Utah community to view so many American masterworks created in New York and New England, the cradle of American art," said curator Marian Wardle.
"The Yankee Spirit" features 59 masterpieces of American painting by artists from the eastern seaboard. The show explores the regional perspectives these artists brought to their works and marks the museum's continued commitment to bring first-rate art to the BYU campus community. The paintings included in the exhibit are on loan from Connecticut's New Britain Museum of American Art — the first museum in the country solely devoted to collecting and exhibiting American art.
Curators have sectioned the exhibit into three main categories: Yankees, Town and Country, and Ports of Exchange. The painting in the "Yankee" section will explore the idea of what it means to be a Yankee. Works in the "Town an Country" section, according to the museum, examine how both city and country life were integral parts of the American settlement in New England. The final section, "Ports of Exchange," focuses on New England's emphasis on education and cultural production. Such ideals were influenced by immigration to the United States and subsequent expansion to the West.
The exhibit makes an ideal destination for families and youth enjoying a few last summer days away from school. Visitors of all ages can view paintings by artists whose work they may have only seen inside the pages of a text book. Curators also suggest the exhibit can teach a symbolic lesson in American history and the country's evolution from its New England home to its expansion into the American West
"The Yankee Spirit" will be on display until Oct. 29 on the museum's main level. Admission is free.
Visitors or groups may arrange for tours by contacting the museum at (801) 422-1140. More information may also be found at the museum's website, moa.byu.edu.
